6th Circuit panel upholds mandate

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the health reform law’s controversial requirement that nearly all Americans buy insurance, marking a significant win for President Barack Obama in the legal battles over his signature legislation.

The ruling by a three-judge panel — 2-1 in favor of the mandate — is the first from an appeals court on the constitutionality of the law.

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The panel included two Republican nominees, who ended up on opposite ends of the opinion. Jeffrey S. Sutton, a George W. Bush nominee and a former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, is the first Republican-nominated judge to rule in favor of upholding the mandate.

“We find that the minimum coverage provision is a valid exercise of legislative power by Congress under the Commerce Clause,” Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr., who was nominated by Jimmy Carter, wrote for the majority.

The 6th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in a suit brought by the conservative Thomas More Law Center, which argued on behalf of itself and two individuals that Congress has no legal right to impose the mandate.

The most likely next step for the group is to petition the Supreme Court to overturn the 6th Circuit’s decision. It could also ask the entire 6th Circuit to hear the case, but that’s not expected.

The court ruled that the mandate regulates economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce, and thus is legal. The court also agreed with the federal government that Congress had reason to think that allowing people to go uninsured would allow for “free riders” to take advantage of the system — and other taxpayers.

The speed in which the 6th Circuit issued its ruling — 29 days after oral arguments — could ensure that the Supreme Court is positioned to take up one of the health reform cases this fall. If that happens, the high court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the law could come next summer, during the height of the presidential campaign.

“The one thing I think we can be assured of is if the United States Supreme Court accepts this case, I can almost certainly assume it will announce its opinion in the last week of June 2012,” said Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general under President Bill Clinton and a strong proponent of the constitutionality of the law.

The 6th Circuit is one of three appeals panels that heard oral arguments in suits over the mandate this spring, but it’s the first to issue a ruling. This summer, rulings are expected from the 4th Circuit — which heard two cases brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia and Liberty University in May — and the 11th Circuit, which heard the high-profile case brought by 26 governors and attorneys general.